Karua fingers IEBC for locking out parties in election preparedness » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya Dec 27-Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua has faulted the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for failing to involve key stakeholders, including political parties in ensuring a tamper-proof election set for August next year.

Karua said that it still remains unclear whether Wafula Chebukati-led IEBC will rectify anomalies witnessed in the 2017 polls some of which led to the cancellation of the presidential election by the Supreme Court.

“One of the main reasons that led to nullification of the 2017 polls was the issue of transparency, the elections were not verifiable. My question to Chebukati is how you are correcting the current situation, how are you planning to manage the forthcoming election so that they are free and fair?” posed Karua in her state of the nation address from the party headquarters.

The Narc Kenya leader is pushing the electoral body to adhere to the Constitution by involving all the election stakeholders in the preparation cycle of the next year’s General Election.

“We want to remind IEBC that the constitution mandates it to engage the public which include the 89 political parties so that we can discuss the planning and management of the 2022 polls,” Karua said.

Karua pointed out that the electoral laws should be enforced individually to each poll body official and not blanket condemnation to the electoral agency.

“The electoral process is about all the processes leading until all officers of IEBC are made personally responsible for their actions. This country will not see free and fair elections,” she said.

The Kirinyanga gubernatorial aspirant holds that the Judiciary should put its best foot forward to ensure the electoral laws are adhered to during the electoral process.

“If electoral laws are followed then we will save the courts time by reducing the petitions that will be presented in court and speed up the petitions that are in court,” Karua noted.

As the country heads to the polls, the Narc Kenya leader decried that the current increased cases of enforced disappearances and tortures witnessed in the nation clearly symbolize that the Ministry of Interior and Coordination have let their guard down.

Karua noted that the police are yet to unravel most of the reported cases which should raise a great concern as the buck stops with them.

“These repeated incidences are an indictment of our security agencies. Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi must dust his shoes and bring his troops to action. Securing Kenyans is not a matter of choice,” said Karua.

A report by Haki Africa, a human rights organization based in Mombasa, recently said that more cases of extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances were reported in Kenya this year than any other period in history.

The report has brought to the fore 43 cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in 2021 alone, the highest number in a year.

Police officers have over the years been blamed for their unethical conduct, with the report showing that most of the victims disappeared shortly after being arrested.